Sole for boots or shoes



(No Model.)

W. W. REID.

SOLE POR BOOTS OP. SHOES. NO. 354,232. l APatented DOO. 14, 1886.

N. PETERS. Phuwumogmpmr. wamingmn. nc.

UNITED `STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM \VALLACE REID, CF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SOLE FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

` SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 3543232, dated December 14, 1856.

Application filed April 8, i986. Serial No. lflSG/l. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WALLACE REID, of Cambridge, in the county of Middle` sex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Soles for Boots or Shoes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the treading-surfaces of boots or shoes; and its object is to se-4 cure a treading-surface which in Wear and practical use shall combine the advantages of leather and of india-rubber or gutta-percha in any of the elastic or other suitable compounds thereof, used separately, without the disadvantages of either so used.

To this end this invention consists of a treading-surface for boots or shoes which is made of a layer of leather of proper shape, and provided With a series of separate rectangular or other polygonalshaped slots or apertures, preferably in lines running across the treading# which they are placed and secured, closing and making at them a continuation of thetreading surface, consisting in its remaining portion of leather, all substantially as hereinafter dey scribed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a face view of the treading-surface of the sole and heel ofa boot or shoe, which, except as to the features of this invention, is the same' asordinarily. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal section on line :t x, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on line y y, Fig. l. Fig. et is a viewin detail, and Figs. 5 and G are views of modifications, as will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings, A represents a boot or shoe sole, and B the outer lift of the heel thereto, both made of leather and otherwise as ordinarily, except as to this invention.

inner face, a, than at the outer face, b, of the sole A or heellift B, and the edges of the openings are thus made lieveling or inclining.

D D are plates or disks, filling and fitting within the slots C of the sole A and heel-lift B, and each made of a corresponding shape therewith, and of a thickness as when placed in a slot, C, to project to a greater or lesser eX- tent beyond the Opening thereof at the outer face, b, of the soleor heel-lift B, as the case may be, and to have a rest against a backing of leather at the inner face, a, of the sole A and heel-lift B, and making a part thereof. These plates are made Ofindia-rubber or guttapercha in any of the elastic or other suitable compounds thereof, molded and vulcanized Or otherwise made into the shape required, and preferably their surfaces, Which, when they are placed in the slots C, as described, are at the outside face, b, of the sole and heel-lift, are serrated or grooved orotherwise roughened, as it were-preferably serrated, as at h.

As the openings of the slots C are larger at 7 5 the inner than at the outer face of the thickness ofthe sole A and heel-lift B, in which the same are made, and as the rubber plates D are made of corresponding shape therewith and fit within them, obviously the rubber plates are thereby held against escape from the slots at the outer face of the sole and heel-lift, and against similar escape at the inner face of the sole and heel-li ft from their coniinement in that direction by the backing before referred to.

From the above description it is plain that a treading surface is produced combining both leather andindia-rubber o r gutta-percha, practically exposing both to Wear, and as the india-rubber or gutta-percha is practicallya non-absorbent of moisture, while the leather is an absorbent thereof, and consequently thereby made to swell, and, again, as indiarubber or gutta-perchais more or less inclined to slip upon moist slippery or icy surfaces, While leather is the oppositely inclined, and vice versa, obviously under the combination of materials, leather and rubber making up the treading-surfaces of the boot orshoe, all as described, On moist slippery or icy surfaces the IOO leather becomes the active agent in preventing slipping, and on dry slippery-or icy surfaces the indiasrubber, thus secu/ring as a whole the advantages of each material employed in the practical Wear of the boots and shoes, and Without the attendant disadvantages of either when separately employed.

The rubber plates D may be Varied in formas, for instance, made square, Fig. 5, or otherWise polygonally shaped and made conoidal, Fig. 6 the openings or slots O being suitably and correspondingly shaped to receive andhold them against escape at the outer or treading surface of the sole. Again, the rubber plates D may be cemented in their receiving openings or slots C of the sole and heel-lift, thus further insuring their retention in position, as also sealing the joints tothe entrance of moisture.

For the best practical results in the use of this invention it is preferable to provide the treading-surface of both the heel and sole with rubber plates or blocks D, and to arrange them in strips and'in directions across the treadingsurface, and again to have them slightly project beyond the outer face ofthe leather; but these features may be varied in many respects Without departing from the invention herein described, and which has been described and shown, as is fully believed, in its best and most useful form.

Having thus described my invention, I claim-V A boot or vshoe sole having a treading-surface composed of leather and4 of india-rubber thereof, substantially as described, for the'V purposes specified.`

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand inthe presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

VILLIAW VALLACE REID.

fit nesses:

WILLIAM SEARS BELLoWs, ALBERT W. BROWN. 

